


Gravity

by alwayseven



Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-29
Updated: 2013-04-29
Packaged: 2017-12-09 21:15:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,546
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/778061
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alwayseven/pseuds/alwayseven
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A tag to episode 1x10</p>
            </blockquote>





	Gravity

Danny and Rachel were always going to be _Danny and Rachel_ on some level, Steve understood. There wasn't ever going to be a clean break, a nice and tidy _the end_ at the end of their story, happy or otherwise. Not when there was Gracie. And not when one half of that _Danny and Rachel_ was one Danny Williams who did _everything_ , including love, with his whole self, his whole heart. 

Even in the bitterness and animosity that they were trying to get to the other side of Steve could feel how hard it must have been for Rachel to walk away, when he could see just how deeply she still cared for Danny. It was evident, painfully so even, in the way her expression shifted when Danny was around, the way she held herself, stiff like she was steeling herself. 

"Why do you do this?" Danny asks. He's drumming his fingers on the console, restless irritability that always simmers underneath the surface after a visit with Rachel. They’ve been in silence for the last fifteen minutes 

Steve cuts a look to Danny, who's scowling, four lines in his forehead. Steve counted them once, the lines, uses them now to measure just how annoyed Danny is. Four lines is a lot. Four lines is more than Danny's "you're insane, what the hell am I supposed to do with you" scowl he usually has for Steve. This is serious scowling. 

"Why do I do what?" Steve asks, cutting over into the other lane. He's hungry. They didn't eat before they drove to the Edwards house and now Steve's past hungry, veering into snappish. 

He can _hear_ Danny's eye roll, can feel the tension rolling off him. Steve spares him another glance and Danny looks like he's trying to kill Steve with the power of his brain. 

"Why do you get like _this_ , Mister Silence and Brooding, every time we go to Rachel's." 

Steve opens his mouth, an automatic answer on the tip of his tongue but Danny's got a hand up, cutting him off. "If you say "I don't know what you're talking about" I'm going to punch you in the throat." 

Steve bites his lip, lets out a breath, and says nothing. 

"You are so frustrating," Danny says, his hands flapping wildly in some Jersey language Steve will never understand. "You're like a little child, my partner is an emotionally stunted child," he's muttering to himself, and Steve gives him a minute before he starts actually pulling out his hair. 

Steve turns into Danny’s apartment complex, pulls to a stop in front of his place. 

“I want to talk about this,” Danny says quietly, not looking at Steve as he unbuckles his seat belt and opens the car door. “Get out,” he says, “we’re talking about this.” 

Steve follows Danny around to his side of the car, standing in the shade of an overgrown palm and waiting for whatever it is Danny thinks they have to talk about. 

“You don’t like Rachel,” Danny says like this is something he knows.

“What? Danny, don’t be ridiculous,” Steve says and scowls as Danny’s eyebrows go up, disbelief and snark in every line in his face. 

Steve doesn’t actually have feelings one way or the other, not about _Rachel_. He’s got a whole messy pile of feelings about _Danny and Rachel_ , but regarding Rachel as a person, he’s pretty indifferent. There’s no way to make that sound logical though. 

“Don’t be ridiculous, he says,” Danny’s muttering. He’s waving his hand about and Steve could swear he sees new lines forming around Danny’s eyes. 

“I don’t have a problem with Rachel, Danny,” Steve says a little more sharply than he intended. Talking is not something Steve wants to be doing right now. He’d like a couple of beers, a burger, and maybe if Danny’s willing a quick, hot fuck in Danny’s narrow bed. Talking is at the very bottom of the list. 

“You,” Danny says and Steve can hear everything in that one word, Danny’s exasperation, his frustration. “Have you always been this emotionally stunted or do I just bring out the best in you?” 

“Danny,” Steve says, reaching for him, feeling, even as he does, like he’s reaching through the bars of the tiger’s cage. 

Danny lets out a derisive little laugh and slaps at Steve’s hand, catching his wrist, stilling him. 

“Rachel is a part of my life, Steve,” Danny says. “ _You_ are a part of my life. I’d like to know why you go all sullen teenager on me after we’ve seen her.” 

Now Steve just feels stupid, he’s drawn this out long enough that anything he says will sound small and lame. 

“She’s your ex,” he says stupidly and he’s right, it sounds utterly awful. 

“She’s my ex?” Danny’s incredulous. Steve would laugh at the expression on Danny’s face but he doesn’t feel like getting hit. 

“Yes,” Danny says and the _you moron_ is unspoken but Steve has spent the better part of six months learning the various languages of the nation of Danny Williams and he knows this one. 

"I love her" Danny says, agreeing to what Steve hasn’t wanted to say out loud for fear of sounding completely inane. "I love her,” Danny says, his voice going quiet. There’s something in his expression and Steve can tell he’s picked up on what Steve’s been keeping to himself. 

Danny lets go of Steve’s wrist but takes a step towards him. “I'll love her forever because she's part of Grace. I wouldn't have Grace if I hadn't loved Rachel." He's quiet, calculating, studying Steve. "But that's done, over," Danny says, his tone shifting. "I'm not in love with Rachel, not anymore." 

Steve understands, intellectually. Grace is Danny’s whole world, Danny wouldn’t do a thing differently. It’s the other side of his brain, the part that’s not ruled by logic that’s having a tough time. 

"I'm grateful," Danny says. "I loved her once, but now that it’s done, over, it makes things a lot simpler."

Steve frowns, not quite getting what Danny’s saying. 

Danny tilts his head, sun in his eyes as he gives Steve a long look. "I think it would be complicated,” he says, “to be in love with two people at once." 

It’s just words, but Steve takes them with the force of a hand closing at his windpipe. “Oh,” he says. He hates that it’s all he _can_ say. A confession like this warrants something other than a dumbfounded expression but Steve can’t seem to make his brain work. 

Steve is capable of so much more than _this_ but Danny has always stunned him speechless, from that first meeting in John McGarrett’s garage, pushing Steve’s buttons and driving him to complete insanity. 

Danny doesn’t seem surprised by Steve’s response, he smiles a little Danny smile, this slightly exasperated curve of his mouth that’s just short of a smirk. “Yeah, _oh_ ,” he says fondly, stepping forward to trap Steve up against the Camaro. 

Danny’s an affectionate guy but Steve’s still not used to being on the receiving end of all that affection. Steve lets Danny step into his space, a thigh moving between Steve’s to pin him, not that he would go anywhere if he could. 

This is big, and he’s not living up to the enormity of the moment. He can’t seem to snap himself out of it, though, because Danny’s just looking at him like he’s trying to get Steve to _see_. 

Danny sighs. He slips his hand between Steve and the car, fingers tangling in Steve’s t-shirt, thumb rubbing along the suddenly sweat-damp skin at the small of Steve’s back, something Danny knows sets Steve off. 

Steve sets his jaw and tries not to hum and arch into Danny like a cat in heat. But fuck, he’s so stupidly easy where Danny’s concerned. The shit Danny gets him to do with nothing more than his hands, the trace of his tongue, that wicked filthy smile that comes out when he’s trying to bring Steve over to his way of thinking. 

“You can’t be jealous,” Danny says, tilting his head, his thumb digging a little into Steve’s skin, making his knees shake slightly like he’s a school boy and not a trained military man. “Don’t be jealous.” 

Steve frowns. “I wasn’t, I’m not,” but Danny’s still touching him and it’s maybe missing some conviction. 

Danny’s eyebrows go up but he doesn’t say anything. 

“Not jealous,” Steve says, trying to make it clear, when he’s not even sure himself what he means. He can face down a barrel of a gun unblinking but this is _terrifying_. _Jealous_ is the only word that makes sense though it doesn’t really cover the mess in his head. “I was just. I was wondering,” he says. 

Danny’s got his palm flat against Steve’s back now and he uses his free hand to hook his thumb in Steve’s belt and tug him forward. “Well stop wondering,” he mutters, pushing up and touching his mouth to Steve’s. 

Something cracks then, threatening to split open and Steve palms Danny’s hip and hauls him up against him, right there in the sunlight for anyone to see. 

“That’s better,” Danny agrees as Steve traces the shape of his smile with his lips.


End file.
